A Friend in Need
by Hotaru Muraki
Summary: What happened between Kurama and Hiei being caught ch24 o/t manga and their reappearance later on to help Yuusuke ch33? o/t manga ...? And why, oh why were they thrown in a cell together?


Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine... sighs However much I might wish for it to be otherwise, _Yu Yu Hakusho_ and its characters solely belongs to Togashi Yoshirio & Shueisha. TT

Notes: Originally, this was written as a response to a request in an LJ-community. Since the one requesting it is no longer in this community, the fic has become mute. Well, sort of. g I've written it and I do want to see it posted!! listens What? The original request? Oh. thinks some It went like this: "I want to see something written explaining the incident with GhostSlayer and what's happened afterwards. Would be nice if there was potential for HieiXKurama." And one more thing: yes, I know that 'kourime' means ice-demon. Hiei's that by birth – theoretically – but he's equally clearly a _fire_-demon. Thus I've decided to use both expression where he's concerned. Isn't artistic license a wonderful thing?

Warning:This fic will – depending upon your interpretation – contain hints of shounen ai. (Yes, I DO mean maleXmale.)

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**A Friend In Need**

by Muraki Hotaru

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Hah, that was easy! Honestly, did they really think they could keep _me_ in there if I wanted to leave? I sighed, closing the cell's door behind me. Yes, I know… I had promised Yuusuke to 'submit to the Reikai's justice' – whatever that might mean in the end. And I did not plan to deviate from that. It's just that there was something I had to do first.

As I passed the cell Hiei was being held in, I imagined I could feel his anger and resentment even through the thick, solid door between us. Sigh. Not that such a thing would be unjustified. Not entirely, at least.

I couldn't but shake my head at that. Hiei's startled face after I had jumped in front of Yuusuke to receive Ghost Slayer's blow in his stead had all but confirmed that I had after all, in _his_ opinion, committed treason against him. Not that we had had any kind of special agreement or something; but still... The way he had screamed "You traitor! I'll _kill_ you...!!" showed to me that I had...'touched' him for lack of a better word. Well, I must have in _some_ way for stoic Hiei to react like that. Otherwise, why would my actions bother the fire-demon so much? And what's more... Why did _that_ bother _me_? And even to the extent of making me sneak out of my cell to—

WHACK!!

So caught up had I been in my musings over the incident that I had walked straight into a wall. Sigh. This was not good. Especially not when considering my reputation, my prior...exploits. If I had let myself get that distracted in the Makai...Youko Kurama would have been dead a long, long time ago. So... I frowned. ...why now...?

Unable to come to a satisfying conclusion, I decided to let the matter rest – for now. Besides, I had better things to do. I had to proceed before someone decided to check in on us.

'Us'?, a small voice in the back of my mind wondered, sounding rather incredulous. '_What_ are you thinking!?'

Ignoring that figment of my imagination, I picked a seed from behind my left ear and, transforming it into a hard stem...picked the lock on the door to the KoEnma's library. It shouldn't have been this easy, really, but then again... What fool would decide to break into the palace of the ruler of the Reikai – and go for the _library_ of all places!? I snickered. Technically, I hadn't broken in since I had been inside already. Plus this time, I was not here to steal anything. This time, I was just looking for some information. I had to confirm that rumour...

About two hours after my initial break-in, I was ready to leave again. I had indeed found what I had been looking for pretty soon. Although it had been fairly obvious from the start that such a book as I required would of course be located in the 'Restricted' section of the library. However, I had not counted on the place being so _large_, containing such a multitude of books. In addition to that, after finally having discovered the book I had been looking for, I also discovered that it was written in a rather obscure dialect I had not encountered for...a long time. Oh well... Not that _that_ had ever stopped me before.

On my way back I pondered various ways and methods of convincing Hiei to listen to me preferably _before_ doing his level best to kill me. (Not that he'd ever succeed, mind you.) Anyway, it was important that the stubborn Kourime heard and _listened_ to what I had found out. I had had an inkling before, an all but forgotten memory of a drunken night otherwise best left unremembered. And my short trip to KoEnma's library had only confirmed what I had merely suspected before. Now all that remained—

A Sleeping Plant and two unconscious guards later, the only thing between me and a quite possible VERY irate fire-demon was an enchanted door about three inches thick. Hn. They had separated us and guarded our doors – but only Hiei's had been bespelled. I could feel a rather uncharacteristic smirk forming on my face. They obviously didn't think – or care – highly enough of Minamoto Shuichi – a.k.a. Youko Kurama – to warrant such high-security precautions. Fools! The harmless-looking things more often than not are the most dangerous ones. But enough of these musings. I inserted the key I had 'borrowed' from one of the guards into the lock, slowly turning it. Time to face the music!

Another two hours later (Rough estimate! )

"Hiei..."

Stony silence.

"Hiei, would you _please_ listen?"

For all of Hiei's being a fire-demon, he had mastered the art of icy glaring to perfection. Not to mention his obviously innate doggedness. Sigh. The things I did for a...friend. Friend, right?

"I don't know why I put up with this."

Glare.

Hm... Interesting reaction. "Why did I bother to interfere with such a block-headed idiot!? Who obviously doesn't care for the reasons at all. Who equally obviously really doesn't give a damn about anything, after all."

A rather soft "Hn. That ningen really _is_ an idiot." reached my ears. If I weren't youkai, I wouldn't even have heard it but this way... "I wasn't talking about Yuusuke, you know."

Glare!!

Ah, _now_ I had his attention. Hiei had finally turned towards me, arms crossed over his chest, glaring at me with barely disguised contempt and fury. And...something else. Something he himself didn't even seem to be aware of. "_He_ listened to me back then. When I tried to explain to him that—"

I was once again made aware of Hiei's incredible speed as he blurred across the room, all but invisible as he tackled me, pinning me to the floor quite forcefully. Of course I could have dodged, maybe, but... Hm. What an interesting position—erm, _situation_, I mean. I had a glaring, angry Kourime sitting on top of me...

"Don't you dare lecture me, you _traitor_!" Hiei growled, his anger getting the better of him. He wouldn't have come so close if he weren't really, really angry. After all, he's not one to encourage such things.

Strangely enough, I wasn't afraid.

"And don't you compare me to that...that..."

I never was afraid _of_ Hiei. Only _for_ him. "That human? Who wanted to protect what he holds dear? Well, Hiei...so did I!"

I could see that I had confused the feisty, irate fire-demon with my words. And not until I had spoken those words out loud did I realize that they were the absolute truth. Yes, I thought of Hiei as...a friend at least.

"Hiei..." I sighed softly. "I know how you—"

GLARE!

"Okay." I sweatdropped. "Okay, I can only imagine how you feel but," I looked pleadingly into the storm-tossed sea of wine-red eyes. "...for the sake of what has been in the past – would you _please_ listen to—"

Hiei glared, hands twitching as if eager to strangle me, trial pending or not.

"—my explanation before killing me. Please?" I gulped. "I did have my reasons for what I did, you know. They _were_ legitimate."

"I don't believe you," Hiei stated flatly.

No, there was _no_ lump of disappointment lodged in my throat. And neither was I feeling hurt by this. I was _not_ sad that Hiei did not believe me. I was not!

...so why did I feel as if my world had crumbled to pieces around me right now...?

"Then you can kill me afterwards," I replied, for once totally serious. As to why exactly the Kourime's opinion meant so much to me... That was something best left to ponder at a later date. Hopefully. Preferably when no disgruntled, hot-tempered fire-demon – who was currently sitting on my...stomach – could manage to distract me without even trying, simply by being _there_. See? There I go again. One of these days, Hiei will take advantage of, i.e. do something about my lack of...attention. A glare, accompanied by some shifting around reminded me that a) that day might come sooner than I thought if I continued to let my thoughts wander off like that and b), Hiei was still waiting for an explanation. (Option c) being my fervent prayer that Hiei would stay unmoving where he was right now. Otherwise we might have a 'situation' at hand...) Sigh. But where to start?

"Hn. At the beginning, baka-kitsune." Grumble. "Where else?!"

Oh. I hadn't realized I had said that out loud. Well, here goes nothing...

"Back when we were planning to steal those three treasures, I routinely gathered some information about them." At Hiei's incredulous look of 'What _for_!?', I felt the need to elaborate, "Sun Tzu once said somethin along the lines of 'Know thy enemy so that thou mayest know thyself.' And—"

Frown. "...was that guy a strong youkai? To say such a stupid thing..."

"Ano, Hiei..." Sweatdrop. "...SunTzu was a very successful, highly skilled warrior. In fact, he was one of the strongest, most revered generals in history. In _human_ history. But—" I waved aside Hiei's attempt at retorting. "—that's beside the point right now, isn't it?"

"Hn." Glower.

". . . . . . ." Sweatdrop. "Anyway. I thought it useful to know what we were going to be dealing with. In that kind of...'business', nasty surprises tend to pop up and try to bite your head off more often than not. I have seen this far too many times to take such a risk by voluntarily going into a situation blind as a bat. However, when it comes to these three Treasures, there's surprisingly little _real_ information about. All I was able to gather were _rumors_, nothing _definite_. Aaaargh! Frustrating, really frustrating! (That was one of the reasons I decided to, ahem, 'visit' the library here. It's so vast that it has information on nearly everything. Definite, unrefutable proof.) I—"

Shift. Sigh. "Get to the point, fox." Glare.

How...cu—What _am_ I thinking!? Blush. "—was mostly concerned the properties of 'Ghostslayer'...as that _thing_ is the least known out of the three."

"Hn. Then why did you do..._that_? It's unlike you to rely so much on unconfirmed rumors," Hiei gruffly interjected.

...He has been paying attention to my behavior? No, wait, don't go there. Smirk. Not yet, anyway. Although... 'Busted!' was my next thought. Hiei was right. That _was_ unlike me. Unlike the famous youko Kurama. Have I been found out...? As it is, there are many things I could answer: "too risky", "little to no profit", "too many unknown factors", "endangering a comrade"..."insane fear of loosing a...friend?" On second thought, scratch those last two. No one would believe them from me anyway. Youko Kurama _has_ no comrades, no friends. Plus, there was no way in...wherever that I'd confess the last one. Not yet, anyway, a small voice in a back part of my mind stated smugly. Stuffing that annoyingly astute voice back to where it had crawled out from, I decided on a careful, purely objective approach.

"You know that Ghostslayer's power is the enslavement of humans and their subsequent transformation into mindless, obedient monsters via a simple scratch with its blade. This is achieved by Ghostslayer sucking out their souls and replacing them with the contaminating, corrosive energy of the sword itself. These are the ruours you have heard as well, right?"

"Hn."

Sweatdrop. "However... What you – and probably the rest of the world – don't know is that Ghostslayer's true nature is _really_ parasitic. One part of that is sucking the souls of the people it is used against. It thrives on those. But! This is only _one_ part of the whole story – and it's _not_ the reason for the sword's name. The _real_ reason that sword got its name from is..." There was no delicate way to say this – not that Hiei had ever appreciated finesse before. "...is that Ghostslayer does exactly that: slay the mind and soul of the one wielding it

until nothing is left but an empty shell of a person.

Although it would be more correct to say that it slowly corrodes its wielder's mind and soul with each and every time it is used. And then, when its wielder is totally drained and dry, Ghostslayer drinks its host's life-force, thus killing him. (And judging from the library's accounts, quite painfully so, I might add.) The it goes dormant again, waiting for the next victim to pick it up. And _then_ the cycle repeats itself again. And again. And—"

". . . . . . ." Hiei didn't say anything, just continued pressing his hand over my mouth. How I wish he would use another part of his anatomy to do that! Blush. No, down boy! Now's not a good time for that! Although... The fire-demon didn't even shift. Maybe he was already contemplating which methods to use for killing me? Or—

"...then why did you get in my way?" For once, Hiei's voice was barely audible, almost as if he was afraid to ask and even more afraid of the answer. The smaller koorime wasn't scowling. Or glaring. Or doing any of the other things he usually did when _having_ to deal with something – or some_one_ – irritating...mainly when I was arround.

Obviously annoyed at my lack of immediate response, Hiei chose that particular moment to _shift_ again, unintentionally grinding his black-clothed buttocks a bit lower, a bit more...southwards. And what a delectable, firm little behind it was...

I forced myself away from those random, X-rated thoughts to answer Hiei – only to discover that I didn't really know what to say. Sweatdrop. Chancing that f-word with Hiei could be...disastrous at best. But who wants to live forever anyway? "Ano, Hiei... Because I...consider you my..."

". . . . ."

"...my..." Gulp. "...friend."

". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."

Again, the koorime surprised me. He did not fly into a rage. Or burned everything to the ground. Or did anything else I would have expected that temperamental, stubborn demon to do. No, instead, Hiei just blinked, mouth slightly open in surprise, too perplexed to even utter his customary "Hn!".

I guess it takes some time to digest all I had told him. If it had taken _me_ at least a week to really fully comprehend Ghostslayer's more...unsavory properties. . . (My decision and ensuing plan to save Hiei, however, barely took me three minutes! ) Well... Hiei was indeed a fast fighter but as for thinking... Slow. Slow but thorough. _Very_ thorough.

"So..." Hiei grumbled, interrupting my musings, "...you were trying to...save...me?!" For some reason, the usually brash, stoic fire-demon sounded rather hesitant, almost as if he was unsure of me motives. Of me, too...? Or... Was it that Hiei couldn't conceive of himself as worthy of being protected like that? Worthy of having friends...? How—

Hiei scowled even more fiercely than usual at seeing my look of incredulity. He seemed...confused, confused by the situation as well as by my actions. Well, I couldn't really fault him for that. Considering the way the koorime had been brought up... And to him, we were no more than business acquaintances – at best.

I just nodded.

"But..." His hands clenched, bunching up my shirt in his fists. "..._why_!?"

On anyone else, Hiei's facial expression would have been called petulant. Or pouting. Or any other, cute, endearing adjective someone could come up with. This, however, was Hiei we're talking about, so... Maybe 'pole-axed' would be more fitting. Sigh. As clueless as ever.

Although, to be honest, I myself wasn't too sure whether my motives for my actions weren't ulterior after all. I... I never had anyone I really would have called 'friend'. (Well, Karasu. Maybe. A biiiig 'maybe'. But that's another story entirely!) 'Lover', yes – youko _are_ famous for that – maybe 'companion' even, but 'friend'...? I'd never felt the need for that. Never before. Had always been a liability too risky to indulge in. But when I had met Hiei...

Blinking, I returned to the here-and-now. Where an attractive, insistent fire-demon was _still_ straddling me. Where a...friend was still waiting for an answer.

When I looked up at him, I found Hiei staring at me with an intensity I had only ever seen him display in battle with the more powerful of his enemies. ...Was my answer really that important to him?

Without thinking, I reached upwards, my right hand cupping his cheek. "Hiei..." My thumb stroked his cheek all on its own, I swear! "...you're my _friend_. My _best_ friend! And... That's what friends are for, right? To help and save each other when they're in danger."

The koorime's stern scowl softened into a frown of confusion. "I'm...your..._friend_...?"

"Yes." My answer might have been quiet, but it certainly didn't lack strength or conviction. Or truth, for that matter. I had never quite realized it before but... I really _do_ consider Hiei my friend. Sigh. And sure as hell I would dearly like to consider him as more than that.

". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." Hiei blinked rapidly. He seemed...surprised, as if he'd never even entertained the thought of a friend. As if he couldn't believe that anyone would actually want to be his friend.

I know some of his past, that's he's considered a 'Forbidden Child' and all that but really! Why should that matter to me? It never has before. Certainly doesn't bother me now. In fact, I seriously doubt it ever will. And with that decided, I reached up again, sitting up as best I could and—

—fiercely hugged the most infuriating, stubborn, recalcitrant, taciturn, strong, handsome, cute koorime I'd ever met. Hiei, of course, went rigid at the contact. I knew he was not used to being touched affectionately – or touched much at all – but I had hoped... Maybe I had been too bold...

When I started to let go, to try and give Hiei the space he obviously wanted and needed, it was my turn to be surprised. Almost as soon as my arms loosened, Hiei's came up and around me, tightening.

Now excuse me while I melt into a happy, Kurama-shaped puddle of goo. Hiei...was _hugging me back_!? I blinked, my eyes tearing up a little because of all the dust in the cell while my arms embraced Hiei just as fiercely as he held me.

More happiness I had never felt before. Ever.

Finally. . .

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+ O W A R I +


End file.
